Guides / Enchantments / Loyalty Enchantment in Minecraft: What It Does and How to Use It
Loyalty Enchantment in Minecraft: What It Does and How to Use It
Published October 16, 2026
- Max level
- III
- Applies to
- Trident
- Incompatible with
- Riptide
- Obtained via
- Enchanting table, anvil, villager trade
Loyalty brings a thrown trident back to your hand instead of leaving it wherever it lands.
What Loyalty actually does
After a thrown trident hits an entity, or 5 ticks (a quarter-second) after it hits a block, it starts flying back to whoever threw it. Higher levels make the return faster:
- Loyalty I: ~0.83 blocks/tick (~16.7 blocks/second)
- Loyalty II: ~1.67 blocks/tick (~33.3 blocks/second)
- Loyalty III: ~2.5 blocks/tick (~50 blocks/second)
How to use it
Loyalty is the whole point of a trident you actually throw and expect back — without it, a thrown trident is gone for good unless you walk over and pick it up. It's a hard conflict with Riptide, which launches you forward with the trident the whole time instead of ever separating it from your hand — Loyalty's return mechanic would have nothing to do in that scenario, which is exactly why the game excludes the two together.
Well-known builds that use it
Loyalty is the "throwing trident" half of The Ideal Trident Enchantments — commonly paired with Channeling (which Loyalty does NOT conflict with) for a thunderstorm lightning effect, plus Impaling, Unbreaking, and Mending.
Loyalty III- Impaling V
- Unbreaking III
- Mending I
Frequently asked questions
Can Loyalty and Riptide go on the same trident?
No — this is a hard, direct conflict in the game's enchantment data. Riptide launches you forward with the trident still in hand, so it's never actually thrown away from you, which makes Loyalty's fly-back effect meaningless.
Can Loyalty and Channeling go on the same trident?
Yes. Riptide is the only enchantment either of them conflicts with — Loyalty and Channeling don't exclude each other, so a throwing-trident build commonly runs both.
How fast does a Loyalty III trident return?
About 2.5 blocks per tick, roughly 50 blocks per second — more than 3× faster than Loyalty I's return speed.